Our reporters have been sitting in courtrooms across the north and north-east this week and covered a wide variety of cases.
Man’s £30,000 rampage in petrol station earns him unpaid work
A violent drunk who smashed up a BP garage in a “blind rage” leaving £30,000 of damage has been ordered to carry out unpaid work.
Derek Ellington’s destructive rampage “terrified” witnesses, who feared the BP filling station in Dyce might go up in flames as he tried to spray fuel over the forecourt.
The 36-year-old previously admitted a string of charges and has now appeared back in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court to be sentenced.
Needle-waving mugger’s chilling threat to Aberdeen revellers
A needle-brandishing mugger has been caged after threatening to infect revellers with AIDS if they didn’t hand over cash.
Terrance Masson, known as Stewart, followed a group of friends through Aberdeen city centre in the early hours of the morning before threatening them and demanding money.
Armed with a hypodermic needle, the 32-year-old made disturbing threats to infect the group with AIDS.
Purring woman who grabbed police officer’s groin placed on sex register
A woman who purred at a police officer and then grabbed his groin has been placed on the sex offenders register.
Heather Worrall was in custody at Kittybrewster station regarding an unrelated matter when the incident happened in the early hours of the morning.
The drunken 43-year-old was in a holding cell when she had to be warned about her behaviour for looking a male officer up and down and purring at him.
Man who mounted pavement during police chase admits careless driving
A “careless” driver has been handed a curfew after leading police on a pursuit through Aberdeen while riding a stolen motorbike.
Kenneth Balgowan mounted the pavement, slipped between bollards and onto a grassy area to lose the chasing officers near Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
The 26-year-old had come to police attention after speeding through a no-entry bus gate on Foresterhill Road.
Man caught with £9,000 of cannabis after hotel cleaner spots drugs
A man was caught with more than £9,000 of cannabis in an Aberdeen hotel room after cleaners spotted drugs in the bathroom.
Bradley Brown had been staying at the Mercure Caledonian Hotel on Union Terrace when a member of housekeeping staff made the discovery.
The woman alerted her manager who, in turn, notified the police.
Jail for crooked lawyer who embezzled £120,000
An Aberdeen solicitor convicted of embezzling £120,000 from a 90-year-old woman with dementia has been jailed.
John Sinclair, a former partner at James and George Collie Solicitors in Aberdeen, was found guilty last month of siphoning off huge sums of money from bank accounts belonging to former university lecturer Dr Doreen Milne.
Today, his actions were repeatedly described by Sheriff Morag McLaughlin as a “significant breach of trust” as a solicitor and as the woman’s friend.
Sheriff slams paedophile University Challenge contestant
A University Challenge contestant who preyed on young girls has been jailed for 16 months and branded a “nasty, perverted little spider” by a sheriff.
Andrew Newton sent indecent messages to girls as young as 12 and attempted to persuade them to meet him for sex, Inverness Sheriff Court was told.
The 30-year-old – who represented St Andrews University when he appeared on the long-running BBC quiz show in 2012 – was also found to have accessed indecent images of children.
Man threatened police officers who he claimed had ‘targeted’ him
A man who claimed police were “targeting” him after being stopped twice in a day has admitted threatening officers with violence.
Daniel Potts flew into a rage after police on Crown Street in Aberdeen conducted a stop and search on him, with nothing untoward found.
It was the second time officers had stopped him that day, and the 25-year-old launched into a foul-mouthed tirade of abuse.
Fiscal depute Georgia Laird told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the incident happened on February 24.
BP fined £650,000 over death of North Sea worker
Oil giant BP has been fined £650,000 after it was found guilty of breaching health and safety rules when a maintenance worker plunged to his death in the North Sea.
Sean Anderson, 43, died in the early hours of September 4 2014 when he fell through an open grating while working on the Unity platform, located about 110 miles north-east of Aberdeen.
Following a two-week trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, a jury found BP guilty of the charge under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
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Bar worker choked underage teen during illegal sex
A man gave an underage teen girl drink and drugs and choked her during illegal sex, a court has heard.
Benjamin Lewis, 28, was living and working in the Kyle of Lochalsh area when he ignored a warning from the girl’s father about her age and pursued the illegal relationship.
But when he made plans to run away with the schoolgirl and she failed to meet up, he ended the relationship, Inverness Sheriff Court was told.
Lewis, a bar worker, admitted intercourse and sexual activity with an older child, as well as a charge of breaching his bail conditions by failing to appear at an earlier hearing. Despite the girl’s age, he was not charged with rape.
Holidaymaker, 83, fought back after cowardly mugger tried to grab bag
A woman who tried to snatch the bag of an 83-year-old holidaymaker on the banks of the River Ness has been jailed for 15 months.
Gemma Robertson pretended to offer directions to her elderly victim and 80-year-old friend before lunging for the bag.
But the “intermittent” drug user was unsuccessful and had to flee after the plucky pensioners fought back and grabbed her by the hood and ponytail.
Man amassed thousands of indecent images out of ‘nosiness’
A man caught with thousands of indecent images of children told police he viewed them out of “nosiness” and not for sexual gratification.
Over the course of a decade, Duncan Morrison, 59, amassed more than 2,000 sick pictures on his devices, including some that were category A, the most severe.
The images featured girls between the ages of one and 16, Inverness Sheriff Court was told.
Morisson admitted two charges relating to the downloading and possession of the images.
Thief caught red-handed breaking into Spar … next to police station
A bumbling thief was caught red-handed after breaking into a Spar store just yards from a police station.
An officer sitting in the station at Mastrick police station heard the alarm going off at the nearby shop on Greenfern Road and went to investigate.
After making the seconds-long journey to the store, officers saw Stephen Leader, 27, brazenly wandering around inside.
Drink-driver caught double limit with Budweiser cans in footwell
A drink-driver was caught by police more than double the alcohol limit with cans of Budweiser in the footwell of his car.
Sergejs Balika was caught after police received an anonymous tip-off about a drink-driver and traced him at a village near Stonehaven.
The 35-year-old had stopped by the time officers caught up with him, but the bonnet was still hot and he confessed he had been driving.
Beer cans were noted in the footwell and Balika was arrested after failing a breath test.
Soup-flinging drunken scaffolder’s Aberdeen hotel rampage
A scaffolder went on a drunken rampage at an Aberdeen hotel, throwing soup and bread around, knocking on guests’ doors and challenging staff to a fight.
David Preston kicked off not long after checking into the Marriot Hotel in Dyce and sitting down for dinner at the restaurant.
The 34-year-old, who had been in Aberdeen for work, began shouting and swearing and became aggressive when challenged by staff.
‘Dress that Broke the Internet’ husband accused of murder bid
The man whose mother-in-law’s dress went viral due to its unusual colour will stand trial accused of attempting to murder his wife.
Keir Johnston, 38, allegedly assaulted Grace Johnston at Maggie Thomsons Cottage on the Isle of Colonsay, Inner Hebrides, on March 6 2022.
Johnston is claimed to have pinned her to the ground, put his hands around her neck and brandished a knife at her.
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Man’s chilling call to police after brutal beating of girlfriend
A thug put his partner’s life in danger after brutally assaulting her in a hotel room.
Lee Hipson, 29, turned on the woman at Aberdeen’s Britannia Hotel on October 14 2022.
Hipson is stated to have punched her on the head and body as well as strangled her – knocking her unconscious.
Fine and ban for driver who broke motorist’s neck
A woman who caused a horrific crash on the A9 which seriously injured three people, including herself, has been fined £715.
Emma Baillie’s Ford Fiesta hit the oncoming Volkswagen Golf “almost head-on” as she entered the southbound carriageway of the trunk road at its junction with the A95.
The Golf driver was left with a broken neck and injuries that are still impacting her day-to-day life, Inverness Sheriff Court was told.
Man caused four-hour police stand-off by climbing onto pub roof
A man who caused a police stand-off by climbing onto the roof of an Aberdeen pub and demanding that officers “get him a beer” has avoided going to prison
Christopher Loggie, 42, clambered atop the Three Lums pub in Sheddocksley and began throwing asbestos-covered tiles at the officers below.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that a number of retail businesses had to be evacuated and the street closed during the stand-off, which lasted four hours.
Woman assaulted rival in scene likened to ‘Wild West wagon train’
A woman assaulted a rival in an Aberdeen street while a group of men on bikes circled them in a scene compared to a “Wild West wagon train”.
Semone Molina and her victim had both been drinking in Wisely Place in the Countesswells housing development when the attack took place.
Molina, 32, who had been in a state of high emotions after receiving some upsetting news, approached the woman and grabbed her by the hair before pulling her to the ground.
Birmingham boy caught at railway station with baseball bat
A Birmingham teen caught loitering at Laurencekirk railway station armed with a metal baseball bat claimed he was just in Scotland for a “day out”.
The 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named because of his age, was hanging around the station with another teen when police approached them and found the bat concealed under his jacket.
In addition to trespassing and carrying the bat, the boy also tried to give officers a false name.
But a sheriff rejected the teen’s feeble “day out” excuse and ordered him to complete unpaid work.
Aberdeen financial advisor jailed over £500,000 Ponzi fraud
A cruel financial advisor who ripped off pensioners to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds has finally apologised to his victims.
Alexander Martin Idris Hind set up a company and bank account with a similar-sounding name to the legitimate Aberdeen financial firm where he worked so that victims would be fooled into paying him money for investments.
He used his fake company to scam a number of pensioners out of retirement money and life insurance pay-outs totalling more than half a million pounds – then fled to the US before law enforcement could catch up with him.
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